“When brothers live together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. (A)Her husband’s brother shall have relations with her and take her to himself as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. It shall then be that the firstborn to whom she gives birth shall [a]assume the name of his father’s deceased brother, so that (B)his name will not be wiped out from Israel. (C)But if the man does not desire to take his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And if he persists and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’ (D)then his brother’s widow shall come up to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and (E)spit in his face; and she shall [b]declare, ‘This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house!’ 10 And in Israel [c]his family shall be called by the name, ‘The house of him whose sandal was removed.’

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 25:6 Lit stand on
  2. Deuteronomy 25:9 Lit answer and say
  3. Deuteronomy 25:10 Lit his name shall be called

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